1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a mobile broadcast system supporting a BroadCAST service (BCAST), and more particularly to a method and an apparatus for updating software or firmware of mobile broadcast terminals through a mobile broadcast system.
2. Description of the Related Art
The mobile communication market has continuously met requirements for the production of a new service through the recombination or unification of existing technologies. Further, with the development of communication and broadcast technologies, current broadcast systems or mobile communication systems is in the stage of providing a broadcast service through a portable terminal, i.e., a mobile terminal, such as a mobile phone or a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), in a conventional broadcast system or mobile communication system. In addition to the above-described potential and actual market demands, rapidly increasing user demands for multimedia services, enterprisers' strategy to provide new services such as a broadcast service beyond existing voice services, and interests of Information Technology (IT) companies that are enhancing mobile communication businesses in response to consumers' demands have enabled the convergence between mobile communication services and Internet Protocol (IP) to create a big stream in the development of next generation mobile communication technology. This convergence has induced the introduction and application of various wireless communication and broadcast services into the wired communication market as well as the mobile communication market. Such an omni-directional convergence has created a common consumption environment for various services regardless of whether the services are wired, wireless, or broadcast.
Meanwhile, the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), which is an organization studying standards for interaction between individual mobile solutions, has determined standards for various applications relating to mobile games, Internet services, etc. Among working groups of the OMA, the OMA BCAST mobile broadcast working group is studying technology standards for providing a broadcast service by using a mobile terminal. OMA BCAST standardizes technologies for providing an IP-based broadcast service in a mobile terminal environment, such as a service guide, downloading and streaming transmission technology, service and content protection technology, service subscription, and roaming.
With the market trend of synthetic service provisions caused by the convergence between wire and wireless environments, mobile broadcast technologies, such as OMA BCAST, are expected to evolve to a level capable of providing services in wired/wireless united environments beyond the mobile environment.
The following description is based on the OMA BCAST mobile broadcast technology standard, as an example.
FIG. 1 illustrates a logical structure of the BCAST working group of the OMA for establishing technology standards of an application layer of a mobile broadcast service and sub-layers thereof up to the transport layer.
First, logical entities shown in FIG. 1 are described as follows. A content provider or Content Creation (CC) entity 101 provides content, which is the basis for the BCAST service and includes a file for a typical broadcast service, including data for a movie, audio data, and video data. Further, the CC entity 101 provides a BCAST Service Application (BSA) entity 102 with an attribute of the content for generating a service guide and determining a transport bearer for the transmission of the service.
The BSA entity 102 receives data of the BCAST service from the CC entity 101, and converts the data into a proper format for media encoding, content protection, interactive service provision, etc. Further, the BSA entity 102 provides the attribute of the content supplied from the CC entity 101 to a BCAST Service Distribution/Adaptation (BSDA) entity 103 and a BCAST Subscription Management (BSM) entity 104.
The BSDA entity 103 performs various tasks including file and streaming transmission, service collection, service protection, service guide creation and delivery, and service notification, through use of the BCAST service data supplied from the BSA 102 entity. Further, the BSDA entity 103 adjusts the service to be compatible with a broadcast distribution system 112.
The BSM entity 104 manages service regulation, which includes subscription and charge-related functions of a BCAST service user, regulation of information used for the BCAST service, and regulation of a terminal receiving the BCAST service through hardware or software.
The terminal 105 receives content and program support information such as service guide and content protection information, and provides a user with a broadcast service. The BDS Service Distribution entity 111 transmits a mobile broadcast service to multiple terminals through inter-communication with the broadcast distribution system 112 and an interaction network 113.
The broadcast distribution system 112 transmits a mobile broadcast service through a broadcast channel, such as Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) of the 3rd Generation Project Partnership (3GPP), Broadcast Multicast Service (BCMCS) of 3rd Generation Project Partnership 2 (3GPP2), which is the 3rd generation synchronous mobile communication standards organization, and DVB-Handheld (DVB-H) or Internet Protocol (IP)-based broadcast/communication network of Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), which is a digital broadcast standards organization. The interaction network 113 provides an interactive channel, such as a cellular network, for example.
Next, reference points, which are connection paths between the logical entities, are described as follows. Each of the reference points has multiple interfaces according to various purposes, which are used for communication between at least two logical entities for predetermined purposes and have message types of protocols applied to them for the purposes.
In FIG. 1, the BCAST-1 121 is a transmission path for content and a content attribute, and the BCAST-2 122 is a transmission path for a content-protected or content-unprotected BCAST service, an attribute of the BCAST service, and a content attribute.
The BCAST-3 123 is a transmission path for an attribute of a BCAST service, a content attribute, user preference and subscription information, a user request, and a response to the user request. The BCAST-4 124 is a transmission path for a notification Message, an attribute used for a service guide, and a key used for content Protection and service protection. The BCAST-5 125 is a transmission path for security materials, such as a Digital Right Management Right Object (DRM RO) and a key value, which are used for a protected BCAST service, an unprotected BCAST service, a content-protected BCAST service, a content-unprotected BCAST service, a BCAST service attribute, a content attribute, a notification, a service guide, and BCAST service protection, and all data and signals transmitted through the BCAST channel.
The BCAST-6 126 is a transmission path for security materials, such as a DRM RO and a key value, which are used for a protected BCAST service, an unprotected BCAST service, a content-protected BCAST service, a content-unprotected BCAST service, a BCAST service attribute, a content attribute, a notification, a service guide, and BCAST service protection. All data and signals transmitted through an interaction channel.
The BCAST-7 127 is a transmission path for user preference information transmitted through an interaction channel of control information relating to reception of security materials, such as a DRM RO and a key value, used for service provisioning, subscription information, device management, and BCAST service protection. The BCAST service comes into interaction with the transmission path BCAST-8 128. The BDS-1 129 is a transmission path for security materials, such as a DRM RO and a key value, used for a protected BCAST service, an unprotected BCAST service, a BCAST service attribute, a content attribute, a notification, a service guide, and BCAST service protection.
The BDS-2 130 is a transmission path for security materials, such as a DRM RO and a key value, used for providing services, subscription information, device management, and BCAST service protection. The X-1 131 is a reference point between the BDS service distribution entity 111 and the broadcast distribution system 112. The X-2 132 is a reference point between the BDS service distribution entity 111 and the interaction network 113. The X-3 133 is a reference point between the broadcast distribution system 112 and the terminal 105. The X-4 134 is a reference point between the BDS service distribution entity 111 and the terminal 105 through a broadcast channel. The X-5 135 is a reference point between the BDS service distribution entity 111 and the terminal 105 through an interaction channel. The X-6 136 is a reference point between the interaction network 113 and the terminal 105.
Meanwhile, in regard to the Open Mobile Alliance Device Management (OMA DM), the exponential increase in the number of mobile terminals has caused a necessity for a standardized method for management of mobile devices, and has thus resulted in development of a mobile terminal management method that enables a mobile enterpriser or service provider to manage firmware or software of terminals while performing wireless communication with the terminals. The OMA DM can manage firmware or software within a mobile terminal by reading, adding, changing, or executing an object of the mobile terminal by using its own a DM protocol standardized by the OMA DM, which is called “terminal provisioning service.”
According to one kind of the terminal provisioning service, the terminals can use the latest software and can more stably and efficiently operate only after updating firmware periodically provided by a manufacturer of the terminals, in a manner similar to other typical mobile terminals.
The OMA DM is designed for use within a terminal of a mobile communication system, and thus allows all communications to be interactive. However, although there are not many models of terminals that use services provided by a single provider, there are still many other terminals that use the services provided by a single provider. Therefore, the OMA DM is very ineffective, since the OMA DM requires a very large quantity of resources when the firmware update of each terminal is interactively performed one-to-one. Therefore, there is a need for a method of simultaneously and collectively updating the same type of multiple terminals through a broadcast system, such as BCAST.